Undergraduate students of the Business Administration and Economics Department of CITY College, had the opportunity to get first-hand field experience by working on a real-life project with Balkan Holidays, the leading tour operator to Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Romania.
Working under the valuable guidance of Mr Athanassios Manos, CEO, as well as of Mr Teodor Minev and Mr Plamen Katzarov from the Business Development department, our students conducted primary market research to identify customer satisfaction in relation to holiday experiences, support digital transformation strategies, and examine the future of DMCs.
On the last day of the project, Mr Plamen Katzarov, Director Corporate Strategy, Innovations and Business Development, Balkan Holidays commented:
Today marks the final day of our action learning projects together with @CITY College, University of York Europe Campus, related to the future of Travel! Students have done a fantastic job, showed enthusiasm, passion and it was so inspiring to see their progress throughout the sessions! For us as a Company it was a great pleasure to share our experience and we are thankful that we had the chance to be part of this wonderful journey! Thank you!
The project was undertaken as part of the Practicum of their studies which is a valuable and successful component of all Bachelors programmes of the Business Department and was led by Dr Giovanni Serafini, Assistant Professor. While working for their practicum, business students learn new skills, work closely with accomplished professionals from a range of industry sectors, build up employability skills and competences and have one of the most rewarding learning experiences during their studies at CITY College.
What is the Practicum?
Business Practicums are supervised action learning projects designed to provide students with an opportunity to manage a project for an organization (“participating company-client”). They aim to successfully bridge academic knowledge and the development of professional skills and employability.
They are team-based and normally delivered over a semester requiring students to devote an average of 150-200 hours in total (depending on the nature of the project). The student work is complemented by classroom-based teaching/mentoring.
The precise nature of the project can vary enormously depending on both the nature and the needs of the organisation. Participating companies can be large corporations or small local businesses. The common denominator is a genuine need for help with a problem or appreciation of the added value of some independent research beyond the resources or capabilities of the participating company. This may be a general management problem, a marketing issue, a finance matter or any number of specific challenges.